Education of Upper-Class Women in Regency Era

By Kristin Perkins (appearing as Caroline Bingley in BYU’s Pride and Prejudice)

A Changing Educational Belief System:

In many ways the early 19th century was a time of changing values in education particularly for women. There were four distinct traditions of women’s education during the Regency period which can be categorized (roughly) as old and new:

(Old) The girl’s school that taught decorum and accomplishments like the one the Bingley sisters attended. The students were generally not of the first circles. Obviously, neither were they poor. Instead, they were exactly what Caroline Bingley was: social climbers. Students at such schools were the daughters of families of lower rank, whether well-off gentry or tradesmen, trying to prepare their daughters for entry into higher society.

(Old) Traditional methods of home schooling, including masters, tutors and governesses. This was practiced by families in the first circles as well as the majority…